


Curtain Fall

by vexedstars



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Circus, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Bittersweet, M/M, Romance, Strangers to Lovers, agender baekhyun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 06:10:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14586681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vexedstars/pseuds/vexedstars
Summary: Chanyeol spends his nights in the circus dreaming of a hopeful future and holding wishes inside his heart with a beautiful soul.





	Curtain Fall

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt #:** L53  
>  **Pairing:** Chanyeol/Baekhyun  
>  **Monster(s):** Merpeople  
>  **Rating:** General  
>  **Warnings:** Major Character Death  
>  **Word Count:** 4.2k  
>  **Author's Note:** I just wanna say a huge thank you to the monster mods, especially with having to deal with me but they were incredibly accommodating and sweet and I am truly thankful for that.
> 
> Song inspiration: [regina spektor – the call](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY0QcSQf_mc)
> 
> When I first started writing for this fic, I had a completely different plan of how this was going to end, and then as complications arose in my life and it was a journey getting back to it and well, writing in general--the fic somehow turned out like this. So I hope my prompter (and anyone else) will find it enjoyable nonetheless. <3
> 
> Cross posted [here~](https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1350371/)

The clouds are stormy and rain cuts through the air as it pours down in huge waves when they bring it in under the cover of the night.

A huge cloth is laid over a square container that’s twice Chanyeol’s size and if he listens closely enough, he could hear water splashing from within. Curiosity brims inside of him as he pretends to continue to clean the audience stands, watching the group of workers with grim expressions push the container to where the other exotic creatures are in the other tent.

The ringmaster talks to him later, a man with lips pressed thin and a glare that sends shivers down his spine, telling him to go in there and clean and to not ask any questions. He’s only supposed to do his job anyways.

Chanyeol needs the pay so he learns to keep his mouth shut. This is his way out and he won’t ruin it when there is no other job who would accept him anywhere else.

After being shunned by his parents from being caught kissing the milk delivery boy, the words of his brief relationship had spread throughout the small town. Chanyeol was unable to go anywhere without someone having the need to say their own piece about it even when it had nothing to do with them. His mother chose to no longer speak to him until he ‘grew up’ and his father wouldn’t look at him. It was as if he was a stranger in his own home and so when the circus rolled in for the week, he hitched a ride, begging for any job they had available.

It was only when a young trapeze artist by the name of Nana who vouched for him despite not even knowing him, that Chanyeol was allowed to become a runaway.

Later on, when Chanyeol had settled into a small bunker in one of the trailers and was set to clean the cages of the animals, Nana had approached him with a smile. She knew instantly when he had gotten on his knees before the ringmaster, that he was someone like her, someone who wanted another chance at life and that was why she helped him.

Now, she was one of his closest friends and he goes to her first as a detour to ask about the unknown tank.

“From what I’ve heard in the passing, it's worth more than any of us put together. They’re even planning to put security around it too,” Nana says before she goes to bend her body around the suspended rope she holds, the image of elegance and poise; the star trapeze artist. “You know he’s gonna start yelling at you right away if you don’t get over there right?”

Chanyeol sighs, rubbing the calluses on his hands and looks past the curtains of the main tent to the faded striped tent of smaller size that contains all his curiosity and apprehension.

“Tomorrow morning?” Chanyeol asks.

Nana gives him a thumbs up and twirls herself in the rope, leaving him to his own devices.

With no choice, Chanyeol takes a small breath before he lifts the mop handle and carries it along with his bucket of water towards the tent which he holds tightly onto till his knuckles turn white.

When he steps in, it’s nothing noticeable at first. The animals greets him with a few grunts of sound before settling back into their cages. The tiger, Maria as Chanyeol had affectionately started to call her, is in the corner of her cage and only lifts her head briefly when he enters before going back to sleep when she realizes that it’s him.

Chanyeol scans the tent, glossing over the birds fluttering in the cages and other animals that were amongst them. It is in the corner that Chanyeol spots the tank of water, still half covered by the cloth that was placed on it just before. When he comes closer, the horses snort softly and shake their manes before going back to eat hay and Chanyeol places the bucket on the floor before slowing peering into the murky and dark water.

Nothing at first other than the gentle lapping of water against the glass and Chanyeol’s about to turn away when a hand reaches through the darkness and presses against the glass.

Chanyeol nearly screams in shock, hand grasping his chest in fear before it registers to him that the hand is glowing a calm silver hue. Soon after the hand, a whole body follows and eyes that reflect his own peer at him. The glow wraps around the creature giving off an iridescent mysticality that only takes his breath away and it’s only when Chanyeol locks eyes with the creature does he see how beautiful they are.

Their eyes are as dark as the night but filled with a curiosity and cautiousness that makes Chanyeol take a step back to show that he means no harm. With hair is as luminous as the moon, a beacon within the water and if Chanyeol looks closely behind the creature, he sees a tail moving back and forth behind him and gapes softly.

_A mermaid?_

Once again, Chanyeol is at a loss of words over just how otherworldly the creature is, that if he were to say something at that very moment, the illusion between them would shatter into pieces. So he backs up slowly and bows his head softly towards him before turning away to continue cleaning.

The rest of the night is spent with bright eyes watching him with a sense of curiosity.

  
  


 

The next time that Chanyeol sees them again is from the wings of the stands as he watches the acrobats fly across the rope and animals roaming underneath performing the tricks with their trainers.

It’s beautiful, like it always is, a magical performance of wonder and the unknown and he doesn’t need to turn to the audience to see their faces to know how bewildered they must be with everything. He, after all, was one of them in the past. In a way he still is. He never gets sick of seeing a performance even though it’s been about a year since he’s been alongside the circus.

The only thing that’s changed now of course is how there is a pool that is in the middle of everything and ringmaster plays up the audience with a grin and a wave of his cane, calling to their new main attraction as the music dies down and the cheers of the crowd dwindle off to silence.

The water’s surface breaks and it appears, in a shroud of light and everyone audibly gasps at reflection that bounces of the tail of the mermaid. The music comes in once more as they performs a few more jumps. It’s wondrous and with every glimpse they give to the audience, their surprise shows even more.

But Chanyeol sees, that despite their actions, the wariness in their eyes, the tightness of their muscles with a broken smile on their face, as they and the ringmaster work through their routine.

Beautiful, yet somehow heartbreaking.

 

 

 

Chanyeol visits the tank a few more times at the command of the ringmaster who tells him time and time again, to clean and to never ask questions. So he doesn’t. He does so with silence until the head pops up from the water and stares at him with unabashed shame.

Chanyeol flushes under the gaze but doesn’t try anything further, scrubbing the floor around the tank and other cages in the tent.

He’s inquisitive though, like he always is, sneaking glances and every single time the mermaid locks eyes with him as if they know and it's in the that instant between them that Chanyeol wonders of a world where he can see this mermaid smile; a real one.

It’s not Chanyeol who speaks first but the mermaid, with just a gentle sigh of his name as he’s cleaning and he nearly drops his mop bucket as his heart leaps at the sound. He turns, with his eyes wide as the mermaid stares and then makes no other move. As if they hadn’t spoken up just moments before.

Chanyeol doesn’t know what to do at this point, still reeling and questioning if he has actually imagined the whisper. But he couldn’t have? When the voice who said it was so beautiful he’ll probably end up thinking about it late into the night, a voice guaranteed to wrap him in its embrace and never let him forget.

He whispers then, unable to speak at full volume because he’s scared of breaking the atmosphere around them.

“Did you… say my name?” he asks softly.

The mermaid sways gently in the water, their hair moving on its own even without a current moving through the tank before they slowly nod at him, eyes somehow brighter that night than the previous ones before.

Chanyeol steps closer, the bucket and mop long forgotten on the floor, until he’s right in front of the tank. The mermaid doesn’t hide; in fact, they appear above the water, webbed hands grasping the edge of the tank.

“What’s yours?” he asks this time.

The mermaid blinks at him, as if they could somehow read his very thoughts and leans forward towards Chanyeol, whispering their name against his ear before diving back into the water and hiding once more in the depths.

_Baekhyun._

 

 

 

The work is tedious like it always is, with Chanyeol doing every other job that no one in the circus enjoys. That usually involves that of getting rid of broken materials, cleaning the stands and dealing with the animals. But now if anything, the tent of animals quickly becomes his favourite place when he sees Baekhyun who greets him with splash of their tail.

They don’t speak much at first, not when Chanyeol is quite busy with caring for the animals but slowly he warms up the mermaid and one night, he pulls up a chair and sits by the tank and starts talking.

He tells Baehkyun about how he’s gotten to the circus and how he did it to gain freedom from his home, how it is his lifeline and a shining opportunity to start again.

“It’s not much,” Chanyeol says, kicking the bucket by his side. “But I’m trying to collect enough money so I can start off in a new town, maybe begin my own business…Sounds stupid right…” he trails off and then looks at Baekhyun. “Sorry, was that too much?”

Baekhyun, who had popped up from the water, and was leaning against their arms at the edge of the tank, quietly looks at him.

Before, this kind of stare intimidated Chanyeol but now he knows it’s just the way Baekhyun is so he waits and listens to the sounds around them of the animals sleeping soundly.

“It’s not,” Baekhyun finally speaks after the story, eyes open with honesty and an innocence that Chanyeol starts to find endearing.

Chanyeol blinks in surprise at his response before an involuntary smile overtakes his face as he answers back.

“Thank you.”

 

 

 

The first time Chanyeol finally works up the courage to ask if he can clean Baekhyun’s cage, he feels as though he’s invading their personal space even though Baekhyun nods and curiously watches the way reaches in to wipe at the glass with a cloth and the other end of a mop.

This is somehow the first time Chanyeol’s this close to the mermaid, standing over the tank from a ladder and leaning over the edge as Baekhyun drifts to avoid getting in his way.

He’s nervous and he doesn’t understand why he is, but in the process of this feeling he drops the cloth and frowns as it drifts to the bottom.

There’s a splash to his side as Baekhyun disappears underneath and comes back up a few seconds later, mere inches away from Chanyeol’s face with the cloth in hand.

Chanyeol nearly tips over on his ladder at the action but quickly rights himself on it as Baekhyun looks at him, tilting their head in concern. Taking the cloth from him, Chanyeol mumbles softly he’ll come back the next night before climbing down and exiting the tent in a rush even though he’s not even done.

Outside, he takes a seat on the dirt ridden ground and looks up at the sky and the way the stars twinkles at him. His heart is beating quickly from his chest as he tries to control his breath, calming down his nerves.

“What am I doing?” he eventually asks out loud.

There’s no answer.

 

 

 

Chanyeol doesn't react as strongly the next time he cleans the tank, in fact, he's closer to his normal self than he was before. He still doesn't know the answer but he's made up his mind to just allow himself to feel what he does.

He talks as he cleans now, to fill the silence between them. He tells Baekhyun this time of the wonders he's seen from the cities he's gone to—the smells and tastes of a new culture he's allowed to see; the smiles that would don everyone's face when they came; the beauty of a sunrise in a different part of the world. His voice gets soft as he continues until he realizes just how much he’s spoken and takes a small breath, smiling apologetically at Baekhyun once he’s finished cleaning.

The mermaid blinks at him slowly before they open their mouth to speak. With a melodic tone that seems to only fit Baekhyun, they tell him of their world underneath the waters, of the far travels and animals that swims with their family. They tell him of the coral reefs and the way the sun would rise above the waters and how the rays of light would embrace the ocean floor. Baekhyun pauses then and sighs before telling him of how they dream of it all when they sleep, that how they no longer want to slumber when it’s only makes them yearn for their once life.

Having taken a seat near the tank, Chanyeol looks up into the eyes of Baekhyun who stares right back at him. He knows there’s nothing he can really say that will soothe the mermaid’s heart but he tries anyway, because he knows what it’s like to be completely isolated from others and to feel hopeless and trapped.

“You’re not alone Baekhyun,” Chanyeol whispers to the mermaid. “You have me.”

The mermaid nods, eyes a bit brighter at his words.

“Thank you,” they answer him before they sink into the waters of the tank and as the night greets the tent with darkness, Chanyeol finds himself drifting away to sleep on the chair.

 

 

 

Chanyeol is jolted awake by a hand touching his shoulder and he yawns before opening his eyes to see the kind and concerned smile of Nana.

“The ringmaster is coming soon, you might have to make yourself scarce for when he does,” she says to him, and Chanyeol notices then she’s already in her performing wardrobe.

“Is it already time?” he asks, but not before glancing at the tank beside him where Baekhyun is still sleeping away. They did after all, whisper of everything and nothing late into the night.

Nana nods at him. “An hour or so, and he wants to check how everyone is for the show.”

Chanyeol yawns again before standing up in answer. He’s reminded again of his status there at the circus as he reaches for the mop and bucket as well. Just as routine usually is, he’s probably expected to clean the stands before an audience gathers to the performing tent but before he leaves, Nana stops him in his tracks.

“What is it?” he asks.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” she shoots back at him, worry now clouding her eyes.

Chanyeol doesn’t have to ask her to know what she’s really talking about as he starts to feel his heart beating a bit faster at the thought of Baekhyun and he smiles, one that’s filled with a bit of hope.

“I don’t,” he answers honestly. “But whatever happens, I’ll accept it.”

Nana gives him a look, one that he knows is analyzing the truth behind his words and Chanyeol resists the urge to leave the tent so she’s no longer looking at him but he doesn’t and raises his chin instead, an act of defiance that only makes her shake her head at him.

“I trust your judgment,” she eventually says.

Feeling as though no words in response would be adequate, Chanyeol pulls her into a hug and she pats him gently on the shoulder, knowing what is conveyed in that hug—that there’s someone he can trust here, an ally and a friend. As they break away from the embrace, she grins at him.

“Ready for the show?”

“Always.”

 

 

 

The silence of the audience only causes Chanyeol to hold his breath as he waits for the next performance. Hiding in the shadows of the stands, he can only anticipate what is to come next and just like the first time, his breath is stolen away by the first glimpse of Baekhyun.

The way they swim gracefully in the water and how their entire being glows under the spotlight. It becomes an enthralling experience as the water rains down like that of fairy dust with every jump that Baekhyun performs. Their eyes are closed for most of the performance but every movement they make is a dance and no one dares to utter a word as they watch their performance.

Chanyeol watches the way Baekhyun turns in the air and he sees in that moment, their eyes locking onto each other. It’s as if time slows down and everyone else ceases to exist.

During their performance, Chanyeol sees Baekhyun smile, a brief turn of their lips before they’re diving back in the water and time begins to run again as the routine ends and the audience stands with thunderous applause.

Chanyeol wonders to himself that night, if this is what magic really is.

 

 

 

The next time he’s sitting with Baekhyun, the tent flap opens and Chanyeol stands up in shock, preparing himself to be reprimanded by the ringmaster but instead, it’s of the fire wielder—by the name of Wonho, a sweet man full of laughs who enjoys to skate the edge of danger, and who had become his friend almost right after Nana. Wonho only glances at him to ask if he’s seen a stray bowling pin.

Chanyeol’s about the shake his head no at the answer but Wonho lets out a shout of surprise and opens the cage of the monkeys to grab said missing object from them. It takes a few seconds of wrestling before he’s able to come out victorious and he waves at Chanyeol goodbye.

“Say hi to the mermaid to me,” Wonho adds with a wink.

Chanyeol freezes in the middle of the wave and wonders if he’s not as secretive as he hopes to be but realizes if anything, Nana probably told him in passing and he shakes his head with a small laugh. At least it’s Wonho though, someone who lives the day as a new day and is a carefree soul.

Looking back to the tank, Chanyeol sees Baekhyun peeks from the waters, after hiding in the darkness of the tank when the fire wielder had appeared.

“He says hello,” Chanyeol says, relaying the message.

Baekhyun’s head appears more from the depths and they tilt their head.

Chanyeol’s heart sings when he finally hears them laughing.

 

 

 

In the quiet of the night, Baekhyun shares with Chanyeol a dream of theirs they had, of swimming freely underneath the moonlight and watching how light would dance upon the surface of the waters during a shower of stars.

Chanyeol listens, but with a heavy heart as he watches the way that Baekhyun’s eyes light up with everything that they say. He wants this for Baekhyun, the freedom that he can’t give.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers to Baekhyun when they finish the story.

“What for?”

“For this, for everything,” Chanyeol says with the tone of a broken man as he gestures towards the tank.

Baekhyun just smiles at him, a sadness between each line, and shakes their head.

“No,” they respond. “You are someone I am thankful for.”

In the first time in his life, Chanyeol feels as though he’s worth something.

 

 

 

It’s when Chanyeol is cleaning his tank that he hears the first hums of notes to the side and he turns, clutching his towel in his hand and glancing towards his left where Baekhyun is drifting in the currents created by Chanyeol’s hands as he scrubs away at the sides of the glass.

He tilts his head a bit, trying to listen more as he locks eyes with Baekhyun who looks back with a tender and open gaze at him before singing the first note of a song he’s never heard of.

The words are not ones he understands but the tune of the song lures Chanyeol in and he sways to it as Baekhyun serenades him with closed eyes. The tone however is intertwined with the kind of sadness that settles into Chanyeol’s heart as if vines digging in and guarding it from the rest of the world.

It _hurts_.

And as the song fades away to silence, Baehkyun opens their eyes again with an honesty inside them that threatens to break him into pieces and Chanyeol feels as though he’s found another reason why the mermaid is so radiant, where they are a beacon of sad hope that still believes in a dream world.

 

 

 

That night Baekhyun asks him to sit closer to the tank, which Chanyeol obliges, balancing on the edge of the glass and partially on the ladder he has set up.

“Are you going to sing to me again?” he asks quietly reaching over to draw his hand in the water as Baekhyun swims a bit closer to him. Their eyes, glowing almost in the near darkness just twinkles as they shake their head.

“Mm, not today,” they answer back before they dives down and Chanyeol leans closer to try and see them below but freezes when Baekhyun appears again, this time, only a breath width distance between them.

Baekhyun blinks at him and reaches up to hold his cheek gently.

“May I?” they ask, barely heard over Chanyeol’s quickly beating heart.

Chanyeol only nods, his voice stolen from him in the moment and the mermaid whispers his name then, rubbing his cheek as they did so. Baekhyun leans up, closing their eyes before their lips met his sweetly. Chanyeol tastes salt on their lips and surprisingly warmth as he reaches with his own hand to hold Baekhyun’s in his just as the mermaid moves back, pulling Chanyeol into the water with them. Slowly, as the two hold onto each other, Baekhyun submerges them both underwater, their lips still connected as they continued to move against each other.

Somehow in their embrace, Chanyeol feels a goodbye.

 

 

 

Baekhyun pushes harder in the routine, underneath the spotlight. The jumps are higher and stronger and the crowd like always is captivated but Chanyeol can see how Baekhyun is on edge, with a smile that’s plastered on their face like a mask. The sparks they had at the beginning is now dissipating and there’s a kind of dullness in their eyes as they follow the orders of the ringmaster.

All Chanyeol wants now is the stop everything, to run up there and grab Baekhyun and hide them away as he can see before his very eyes how Baekhyun is breaking. But the reality is there’s nothing he can do as he watches the way the mermaid reaches out towards the unknown, only to dive back down; alone.

As Chanyeol stands among the thunderous applause in the wings with the show closing on a bittersweet taste in his mouth, he notices then that Baekhyun doesn’t meet his eyes.

It’s the performance of a fallen star.

 

 

 

Chanyeol dreams that night of swimming underneath the moonlight with Baekhyun as the cooling water laps against their skin. He remembers the feeling of freedom in that moment and the bright smile that’s adorned on Baekhyun’s face when they look at him.

There’s a childlike innocence in their expression and laughter in their voice that Chanyeol wishes he can continue to hear from the angelic soul before him. As Baekhyun waves at him, telling him to come along, they swim faster away before disappearing underneath the water, leaving Chanyeol floating in the water that threatens to swallow him whole.

The dream fades then and when Chanyeol wakes up, in that moment, he _knows_.

When he watches the sunrise that day, the wonder and beauty he once saw in the way that tents would rise from the ground is no longer the kind of magic he can put his faith in. But when he thinks of the words he once spoke of to Nana and of the dream once more, the Baekhyun he sees in it amongst the starry sky; where they’re no longer made to be a spectacle, Chanyeol wants to believe of another world.

One where they both find what they truly desire.

As the morning breeze brushes against his cheeks, Chanyeol takes in a soft breath and whistles softly the tune he carries close within his heart before slowly walking towards the tents.

It was time for another show.

**Author's Note:**

> [Twitter](http://twitter.com/vexedstars)


End file.
